The Godfather
by adoranymph
Summary: How do you go on living as the hero of a wizarding war, the unrequiting lover of a fiery redhead, AND the godfather to the orphaned son of a former Maruader werewolf and a playful yet clumsy metamorphmagus? Harry Potter wonders the same thing himself.
1. Prologue

A/N: anything you recognize from the books was adapted from PoA and taken directly from DH.

**Prologue**

Ron turned to Hermione and said, "Hermione, do erm…do you think we could erm... Could I have a...er…a private word with you?" He kept looking from his shoes to Hermione's face as he spoke.

Hermione was trying to suppress a laugh. She turned to Harry and said, "Harry, we'll only be a moment."

Harry grinned and shook his head. "I think I'll go down and see Kreacher about that sandwich." He made for the door, and walked backwards with his hands in his pockets. He gave Ron a knowing glance as he sidled out of Dumbledore's office.

As he made his way down to the Great Hall out of habit, he began constructing the desired sandwich in his mind. It was only when he wandered into the Great Hall and met the sight before him that all thoughts of said prospective sandwich flew from his mind.

The fifty or so bodies of those who had fallen in the name of defeating Voldemort were still laid out, though now the celebratory feast was being cleared and work was being done to take care of the dead. First he noticed the rest of the Weasleys tending to Fred's body. And then…nearby…he caught sight of the Malfoys. Harry supposed they were trying to make a discreet get away—no doubt to regroup in the comfort of their mansion, which they could do now that Voldemort no longer resided there.

They walked in a line, with Lucius in the lead, followed by Draco, and trailing behind them, Narcissa, who had fallen back in the first place to stop beside two bodies. The first was that of Bellatrix Lestrange. Narcissa stood there a long while, not even aware of Harry staring at her. Then she seemed to notice the other body, lying considerably further back down the line.

Lucius and Draco stopped and turned to see what she was doing. Harry saw—but could not hear—Lucius urge his wife to hurry along, and then she seemed to reply that she would be along in just a moment. Then she stepped back to the other body, and stopped to gaze upon it.

Harry realized with a sinking feeling what the identity of that other body was: her niece, Nymphadora Tonks…and beside her…her husband, Remus Lupin….

His heart twinged.

Harry suddenly thought of something. He recalled the time in his third year when he'd been hiding under his father's Invisibility Cloak and crouching beneath a table in the Three Broomsticks pub unbeknownst to anyone other than Ron and Hermione. The three of them happened to be overhearing Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, as well as Rubeus Hagrid, previous minister Cornelius Fudge, and Madam Rosmerta, the barmaid of the Three Broomsticks, conversing about Sirius Black, his now late godfather. That had been when Sirius Black had been a murderer in Harry's eyes, and in eavesdropping on that conversation, had learned the falsehood that he had betrayed him and his parents to Voldemort. 

Now that he had known the truth of the matter for nearly four years, Harry found himself re-examining that memory, and remembered Hagrid mentioning something that Sirius had said to him when he'd met him shortly after Harry's parents had been killed a little over sixteen years ago. What was it Hagrid had said he'd said…?

It was….

"_Give Harry to me, Hagrid…I'm his godfather…I'll look after him…."_

Narcissa turned around, seeming to realize Harry was watching her, and locked gazes with him.

She nodded.

He nodded back, her sad, shining eyes striking an odd chord of sorrowful compassion inside of him.

Narcissa turned away and rejoined her husband and son.

Harry watched as they slipped out of sight from the Great Hall.

"Harry," called a voice behind him.

Harry turned to see Kingsley Shacklebolt striding towards him. At the sight of him, he couldn't help but smile: "Yes, _Minister _Shacklebolt?"

"Harry, it's only temporary," Kingsley said modestly and slowly. "I am off to deal with You-Know-Who's body."

Harry's smile faded. "What are you planning?"

"Just to burn him." Kingsley's tone was bitter. "He doesn't deserve anything more. Even an actual _log _for a fire is better than _him_."

Harry agreed wordlessly.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could not forget that Remus and Nymphadora's bodies lay nearby.

Sirius' plea to Hagrid sounded in Harry's mind again….

"_Give Harry to me, Hagrid…I'm his godfather…I'll look after him…." _

"Do you know who is going to take care of Remus and Nymphadora's bodies?" Harry asked.

"You mean Tonks," Kingsley corrected, grinning sadly.

Harry reflected his expression. "Yes, Tonks." His eyes grew hot and he blinked a few times to make it go away.

"No one that I know of," said Kingsley. Then he seemed to catch his mistake. "Oh no. I'm sorry. Er… I think Andromeda will probably take care of that."

"I'd like to be the one to bring her the news," said Harry.

Kingsley stared at him. "Are you _sure_, Harry? Delivering tidings of grief to someone's door is not an easy thing to do."

"I want to do it. I'm—I'm their son's godfather." He swallowed hard and looked at last again upon the bodies of his father's old friend, free at last from all of his monthly suffering beneath the full moon, lying peacefully and still beside the woman who had loved him despite that affliction. His heart squeezed when he realized that he knew, deep down, that man had loved her just as much. More than his own life even….

"I understand, Harry," said Kingsley quietly. "You'll start off at once?"

Harry did not tear his eyes away from Remus and Nymphadora just yet. "No sense in keeping Andromeda waiting, is there?" He nodded to Kingsley in farewell, and set off out of the Great Hall. He walked out through the oak front doors and down the front stone steps onto the grassy grounds wet with morning dew.

As he made his way to the main gates, he turned it over and over in his mind how he was going to approach Andromeda and deliver the news. He should just tell her, flat out—no sugar-coating. But then that would be too brutal, wouldn't it? Then he found that the more he thought about it, the harder it the possibility of telling her what had happened became, and so he told himself not to think about it at all. Yet when he stopped thinking about it, he couldn't _help _but think about it, and then it cycled all over again in his brain.

At long last he made it beyond the gates, and now he was free to Apparate. He thought of the home of Andromeda Tonks and her late husband Ted, and turned.

No doubt because of the Apparition barriers on the house (which most wizarding houses had), he emerged from the squeezing darkness onto just the doorstep of the Tonks' residence in South London. He looked about, hoping no Muggles were in the vicinity, though he figured that this house probably worked a bit like Grimmauld Place. In fact, considering the connection between the occupants of the two houses, he wouldn't be surprised if it did to an extent. It definitely wouldn't have been entirely anti-Muggle, as Ted Tonks himself had been a Muggle-born, but it was probably invisible to Muggles just in terms of upholding the laws under the jurisdiction of the International Statute of Secrecy.

He raised a fist to knock upon the door, when a sound from within froze him like a Freezing Charm.

It was a baby's cry.

Raw pain clawed at Harry's heart. And regret. It was all his fault they were dead. He wished to God he could bring them back….

He swallowed, breathed in and out several times until he managed to master himself and his trembling. Pursing his lips, he pounded the side of his fist on the door.

"Declare yourself!" Andromeda's voice called abruptly from inside. But there was fear lying beneath it.

Harry inhaled deeply and slowly, and said, "This is Harry Potter, appointed godfather of your grandson, Teddy Lupin by his parents, Remus and Nymphadora Lupin. I came here on my way to the Burrow when the Order was moving me from Privet Drive a few days before I actually turned seventeen, and while here I actually mistook you for your sister Bellatrix Lestrange, and while we're on that subject—"

The door opened to reveal Andromeda Tonks, who still retained some of her youthful beauty, even gained some in age with the silver streaks running through her dark brown hair. But her eyes did have bags beneath them, and she looked far more careworn than when Harry had previously encountered her once before.

"And while we're on the subject," Andromeda said with a tired smile, "I have fully forgiven you for that. Please, Harry, come in." She pulled Harry gently inside and closed the door behind them.

The house was quiet, which meant that Teddy must have stopped crying, wherever he was. The house itself was much the way Harry recalled it from his first and only visit many months previously. He turned to look at Andromeda, and saw that her eyes shined with fear.

"_You're _here," she said.

"I am," said Harry softly.

Andromeda folded her hands behind her back, her robes defining the hourglass figure that she still held despite her age, and her being a grandmother, no less. Harry thought he saw quite a bit of her daughter in her.

"Are…they being held up?" she asked quickly, sucking in her breath and averting Harry's gaze.

He knew what she meant by "they". He closed his eyes a moment. _Just breathe. You can do this. _He snapped his eyes open, took a noiseless gulp of air. "They're dead." His voice cracked on the word, "dead".

Andromeda's eyes flicked up to his at once, wide and stricken. "_Both_?" she croaked. "_Nymphadora_…?"

"Yes," said Harry, his throat tightening up on him again.

"_And Remus_…?"

Harry bowed his head. He felt a lump the size of his fist rise up in the back of his closing throat. He could only nod in reply.

A sob escaped Andromeda.

Harry dared to look up, and saw her fold her arms as if hugging herself from a chill that had suddenly emerged in the air, and lean back against the door. Tears streamed down her beautiful face.

His heart cried out silently with and intense pity and desire to ease Andromeda's pain, for he considered himself partially responsible for it, which added to the sense of guilt gnawing at his insides. Impulsively he stepped forward and without thinking about, he automatically wrapped his arms around Andromeda's shoulders and pulled her close. Only then did she allow herself to sob uncontrollably, the sounds muffled by Harry's shoulder. Harry tightened his hold on her. He felt her slip her arms around him, cling to him like the Andromeda from the Greek myth who had clung onto the rock while adrift at sea, with only the monster praying on her in the deep, dark, turbulent waters of grief and despair….

Harry felt a fresh wave of grief overpower him. His eyes stung, and then tears of his own spilled from them. Only then did he really realize how much Remus Lupin had actually meant to him…and Nymphadora too, for that matter…and now their son would grow up just as he had done…without parents…without a family.

No.

That wasn't true.

Teddy _would _have family.

He, Harry, Teddy's godfather, would make certain of that….

Then Andromeda whispered in Harry's ear: "And…my sisters?" She pulled away from him, took him by his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. Her own were still sparkling with her sorrow.

Harry heaved another sigh and said, "Bellatrix and Rudolphus are dead, but Narcissa is still alive, as are Draco and Lucius."

Andromeda exhaled slowly. She took her hands away from Harry's shoulders and wiped at her eyes. "Well…that's that, then…. I suppose."

The baby's cry started up again. It seemed to be coming from the next room.

"Oh, Teddy! Can't you just _sleep_?" Andromeda could not but laugh as she wiped away her tears, and it heartened Harry to see sincere joy radiating from her. She smiled at Harry. "You _must _seeyour godson, Harry. I'm sure Remus showed you that picture he took with him before he…. Ahem. Anyway, you've not met him in _person_, and let me tell you, he is a piece of work! I just _know _he'll be high-maintenance when he gets to be a toddler, just like…Nymphadora…." She allowed her voice to trail off a moment while she fixed her gaze on a spot on the carpet, then she cleared her throat and beckoned Harry to follow her.

The living room was just as Harry remembered, save for one little alteration: in the corner, beside the sofa, there was a bassinet, from which the cries of the baby Teddy Lupin were coming.

Andromeda made a beeline for it, and reaching down into it, she scooped up baby Teddy himself in her arms, so easily that Harry thought it a wonder she hadn't dropped him. Then again, as a mother, and now a _grand_mother, she'd _had _some experience with newborn babies.

Harry was fascinated by the infant Teddy in her arms, from which two arms and two legs stuck out, squirming, the arms shaking their tiny, wrinkly fists, and the legs kicking about, the outline of the feet showing through the bottom of the blue bunting he was wearing. His head was supported by the crook of her arm, and on it was a tuft of turquoise hair…just like in the picture Remus had showed him….

Andromeda rocked the little babe as it continued to whimper and cry. "Grandmum's right here, little one," she told her grandson softly, tenderly. "Don't be frightened." She nuzzled the tiny nose. "He's only a couple of weeks old, still a newborn," she said to Harry. "Would you like to hold him?"

Harry was taken aback. He had never held a baby before, much less a newborn. What if he broke him?

Andromeda glided towards him and held baby Teddy out to him. "Go on, I'll help you."

Harry swallowed.

"_Give Harry to me, Hagrid…I'm his godfather…I'll look after him…."_

Tentatively, he proffered his trembling arms.

Andromeda carefully placed baby Teddy into them, slowly guiding Harry. "Carefully…that's it, hold him close, and support his head like I was doing…that's it…right against your chest…support his back too…. Got him?"

Harry nodded, certain that he had his arms securely around Teddy in the correct position.

"Okay." Andromeda ceased holding any part of her grandson and stepped away as Teddy's weight fully settled into Harry's arms.

Harry's breath caught in his chest. His arms curled protectively around the tiny form, and he held the fragile little baby that was his godson right up against his chest, the head resting in the crook of his arm. Harry stared down at the scrunched little face, all pink and full of life, the silvery eyes gazing curiously up at him. He bent his nose closer to Teddy's teeny one, awestruck. He chuckled at the turquoise hair. Then he watched with enthrallment as it changed gradually from turquoise to jet-black, the same color as his own. He sucked in his breath in wonderment, and Teddy's small toothless mouth curled into what was unmistakably a smile, which perhaps held a hint of an inherited sense of mischief.

Harry beamed, and raised his head to Andromeda. "He can smile already?"

"He's an early smiler," said Andromeda, smiling herself. "Remus was too. That's what he said his parents told him. I think Teddy is taking after his father in that respect. I suspect he'll be an early walker and talker too, because Remus said he was early learning those things as well."

Harry felt a tickling sensation on his chin, and realized looking down that baby Teddy was using his tiny fingers to touch his face, inspect it, explore it. Harry needed to sit down as his legs were beginning to grow unsteady. He sank slowly into the sofa behind him, still bewildered at the significance of the small, vulnerable life he was cradling in his arms.

A kettle's whistle sounded from presumably the location of the kitchen.

"That'll be the hot water for warming his milk," said Andromeda. "Will you be alright for a few minutes on your own with him?"

Harry glanced up at her and nodded. "Yeah, I think I will."

Andromeda still smiled, but she bit her lip. It was the worry of an ingrained maternal nature. Something that never went away once gained with a loving mother's very first child. She swept from the room without a word however, and Harry decided that that meant she trusted him at least not to drop Teddy.

He looked down at his godson's face again, and something about it made it impossible for him to stop beaming so broadly. Then Teddy turned his head to face the opposite side of the room and made little grunts. Harry followed his point of focus, and his own gaze fell on a picture in a frame on the mantelpiece of the fireplace directly across from the sofa. Slowly, and carefully, he rose to his feet, and crossed to it, experimenting a few times with gently dandling Teddy in his arms on the way, liked he'd watched his mother and father do with _him _as a baby in pictures from that photo album Hagrid had bequeathed him all of those years ago at the end of his very first year at Hogwarts….

When he reached the photo, he saw that it was a picture of Remus and Nymphadora, lovingly holding each other close. It was just chaste enough for what Harry supposed was Remus' comfort, but just erotic enough to show how much he truly loved her, and she him in return. In the face of his father's old friend, Harry could see such happiness radiating from the prematurely lined face. As the picture moved, Harry watched a moment as Remus nuzzled Nymphadora's pink locks, and Nymphadora seemed to giggle with girlish pleasure, despite her maturity. Then she looked up at Remus, and Remus looked down at her, and they gazed deep into each other's eyes. Remus reached up and tenderly cupped her cheek in his hand, and she returned the favor by stroking his graying brown hair as they both pressed their heads together, touching the bridges of their noses together….

Next Harry noticed another picture beside that one: it was Remus and Nymphadora, and both of them had one arm around each other's waists while the other both held baby Teddy, who was wrapped up in a bundle of blankets. Perhaps he had only been a day or two old then. Nymphadora was lovingly smiling down at her son in between smiling out of the picture. Remus was doing the same, and when he would take his turn to smile out of the frame, he did it almost meekly, as if he found it both silly as well as wonderful that he had ever come to find himself in such a moment…one he never thought he would ever be able to have for his own…because of what he had been….

"…_he will know why I died and I hope he will understand. I was trying to make a world in which he could live a happier life…."_

Harry's throat grew tight again. He blinked tears out of his eyes as he looked down to see Teddy falling asleep in his arms. _Remus…Tonks…I'll keep him safe_, he vowed. _I swear it. _


	2. Requiem

**Chapter One**

**Requiem**

Harry felt he needed to attend more than one funeral. First he attended the funeral of Colin Creevey, where he felt compelled to even speak on his behalf. He admitted that despite the fact that the boy had annoyed him a bit when he'd met him in his second year of Hogwarts, he had admired Colin's spunk, and had certainly appreciated his unwavering support, even during Harry's fifth year most people had thought he'd become a nutter craving attention. He also offered his sincerest condolences to Colin's Muggle parents, and their other wizard son, Colin's little brother Dennis. He even took Dennis aside, and when Dennis started to cry, Harry did not find it at all hard to put his arms around him and let him cry into his shoulder.

He seemed to be getting better at this "comforting people" thing. Before he had always felt awkward around crying. He'd even felt a little awkward when he'd had to clasp the hands of all of the bereaved immediately after the Final Battle. Yet when it had come to Andromeda, a part of him he'd never known was there before fully awakened, a part of him that he suspected he'd inherited from his mother, a part that had begun to awaken when he'd spoken with Luna Lovegood at the end of his fifth year in the wake of Sirius' death. And every time speaking with her since then, almost.

The next day he went to Fred's funeral at the Burrow, and at which he actually did not speak, but Fred's twin George did, and Harry could hear the sadness in him. George spoke as though he'd lost a half of his soul, practically. He couldn't even make one single joke just in mere reminiscence of his twin. Harry had never seen him more somber, and it virtually pained him to see him that way.

Beside a sobbing Mrs. Weasley, Harry caught sight of Ginny. There were tears streaming down her face, though silently, like Andromeda's had been at first. And he found himself wanting nothing more than to take her in his arms and kiss her pain away, for it pained him even more to see _her _bearing the weight of grief. But when she noticed him staring at her, she hastily wiped at them, pretending they weren't there. She knew how much it exasperated him to be around someone weeping, especially when the weeper was female.

At least that's how it used to be. But Ginny wouldn't know of the changes taking place inside Harry, would she? How could she, since he hadn't been close to her at all since the Final Battle? And even then, he hadn't actually spoken to her…as he'd passed her unseen beneath his Invisibility Cloak…hoping to see her one last time before going off to die….

But he_ hadn't_ died—he'd come back, anyway. He'd become "master of death". And Voldemort was gone forever, never to stain the world with his evil again. He was free now.

He could have her back now, be with her again….

Yet he did not make an effort to stay and talk to her after the funeral ceremony. He avoided her at all costs, even though he was staying with her under the very same roof at the Burrow. After all, sure, _he _wanted _her _back, but did _she _feel the same about _him_?

Naturally, he was half-convincing himself that she did _not_, simply because _she _wasn't talking to _him_.

"You should just _talk _to _her_, Harry," Hermione chided him that evening a little after dinner. She hadn't failed to notice Harry, in between swigs of butterbeer as he sat with her and Ron near the fire in the living room, sneaking glances at Ginny surprisingly allowing Fleur to talk with and stroke her hair consolingly while they sat together in armchairs in the corner of the room.

"Yeah, mate, what have you got to lose _now_?" asked Ron in support of Hermione's advice. "Nothing but _her_, that's what."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Since when did _you _go back to supporting the idea of Ginny and I having a relationship?"

Ron shrugged. "I dunno. I mean I know I was hard on you before, but that was when we were about to leave to go kill, er…the horcruxes, and er…you know but now…you're…well…free. Right?" He glanced sideways at Hermione, as if asking for approval of his wording.

Hermione smiled. "Couldn't have said it better myself." She planted a kiss on his cheek, and Harry noticed that not only did Ron seem to enjoy the contact without any sign of being embarrassed by it, but also that the two of them had been holding hands nearly the entire time.

He glanced over at Ginny, and now observed that Andromeda and had taken Fleur's place, as Fleur had been called to the kitchen by Bill. Andromeda had kindly attended Fred's funeral, and had of course brought along baby Teddy. She was holding him at the moment, and was now allowing Ginny to have a look at him.

Hermione and Ron followed his gaze, and then Hermione gave a soft cry of delight.

"Oh Harry! Is that Andromeda? With little Teddy there?"

Harry couldn't help smiling. "Yeah, that's them." But before he could stop her, she beckoned Andromeda over, and naturally she came—Ginny however did not. She remained rooted in her chair, and he caught her eyes. She looked away at once, leapt to her feet, and hurried out of the room into the Weasley's kitchen, no doubt with the pretense of helping with cleaning up.

Meanwhile, Hermione and Ron were having their own first in-person look at Harry's godson.

"He's _adorable_," Hermione fawned. "Everything about him is so _little_!"

Andromeda chuckled, while she sat beside them, showing them the bundle that was her grandson in her arms.

"Bit wrinkly," commented Ron.

"_Ron_." Harry watched with some amusement as Hermione pulled her hand out Ron's and then nudged him hard in the ribs with her elbow.

"Ouch! Well he _is_. I didn't say it was _ugly _though."

Andromeda laughed. "And he's got a point, Hermione. Little Teddy is a wrinkly little fellow, though not _nearly _as much as when he was _just _born."

"Oh look, he's smiling already!" Hermione repeatedly hit Ron in the shoulder with the palm of her hand in excitement, trying eagerly to make him look. Her anger seemed to have completely disappeared.

"Alright, alright, I see!" Ron laughed. "He's an early one, innee?—Blimey!"

Harry chuckled with Andromeda as they watched Teddy's hair turn the same shade of red as Ron's, and then little freckles appeared all over his face as if someone invisible were taking an invisible felt-tip pen of the color brown and dotting the bitty speckles all over his cheeks and nose.

"Nymphadora was the same way," said Andromeda in a sort of happy form of nostalgia. "All babies tend to learn a lot through imitation, so it's no surprise that one with Metamorphmagus powers like Nymphadora, and like Teddy here, learn to use and control such abilities through imitation."

"Well, he's good at it, I think," said Hermione. "He's got a very natural-looking distribution of freckles there. He could pass for a Weasley." She grinned somewhat impishly and gave Ron another nudge in the side with her elbow, but this time Harry perceived that it was far more playful and not at all admonitory.

Teddy scrunched up his freshly freckled face and started to whimper.

"Oh dear, I think he's hungry again," Andromeda clucked. "Harry, would you be so kind as to hold him a moment while I get some milk ready for him?"

"Sure," said Harry, setting aside his bottle of butterbeer. He took Teddy in his arms easily and then Andromeda turned with a smile to go into the kitchen.

"Awwww…." Hermione covered her mouth, and her eyes were bright.

"Hermione, what's the matter?" Ron asked.

Hermione lowered her hand to her chin. "It's just so…_adorable_," she smiled. "Look at Harry! Have you ever seen him hold a baby before? He's a natural! I think he'll make a great dad one day."

When she said that, Harry suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye that Ginny had been watching him from the doorway into the living room. Harry met his gaze deliberately with hers, and he stared into her brown eyes with ferocious intensity, determined to keep her from tearing herself away this time.

Ginny clutched at her throat, as though he were really threatening to rip her throat out like some kind of bestial vampire.

But she did not look away.

Something soft and cool slammed against his chin. Harry looked down at Teddy, who had evidently just whacked him with his wrinkled little hand.

Hermione and Ron laughed lightly across from him. Naturally they'd be amused. But when he heard Ginny suppress a laugh of her own, Harry felt impelled to glare up at her, and he didn't even know why. He just did, and before he could undo it, he'd killed the small joy shining in Ginny's face, and she retreated at once back into the kitchen, a safe haven from the emerging tension between them.

Teddy's hand whacked his chin a second time.

"Would you _cut_ that _out_?" Harry turned his glare on Teddy, for now he was irritated that he'd let himself be so incomprehensibly irritated with Ginny.

"_Harry_, don't talk to him like that," Hermione reprimanded at once. "He's only a baby, he doesn't know any better."

But Harry only had eyes for his godson, who seemed to be glowering right back up at him with his silvery newborn's eyes, as if to say, _Quit being stupid and go talk to her!_

_You're right_, Harry thought, and the nettled bitterness inside of him softened and melted away. He smiled down at Teddy, and dandled him when he resumed his whimpering to be fed.

"See, Hermione, he's alright," said Ron. "You sweat the small things _way _too much. I think you could use a holiday actually."

"Speaking of a holiday," said Hermione, "what were you two thinking of doing after the _summer _holidays? Ginny and I will be going back to Hogwarts—I for my seventh year and to take my N.E.W.T.s, and she to redo her sixth year."

"Why's she redoing her sixth year?" Harry asked, looking up at her from Teddy's expression of distress caused by his growing hunger.

"Well, considering this _past_ year's _curriculum_, Harry…." Hermione let her voice tail away intentionally to allow him to fill in the blanks.

Harry nodded. "Good point. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone went back and repeated this past year."

"Of all of the other things _Voldemort _had to do, he had to go and mess with the flow of the school system too!" Hermione muttered agitatedly. "Practically a whole half a generation is being pushed back a _year _because of him!"

"It'll all straighten out, don't worry," said Ron, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "Like I was saying before, you worry way too much about too much."

"Hmmm, maybe," said Hermione pensively. She let go of Ron's hand and leaned her head against his shoulder.

Ron put his arm around her and pulled her closer into the shelter beneath his chin.

Harry sighed, thinking languidly of Ginny, and was glad when Andromeda entered the living room bearing a freshly prepared bottle of warm milk for Teddy. He handed the hungry infant to her then finished the last swig of his butterbeer.

"I'll take that," said Ron, offering his hand to take the empty bottle from Harry.

Harry gave it to him with a "Cheers", and then he rose to his feet and stretched. He surveyed the room a moment, and saw that most everyone else had vacated the living room, and had either gone to bed or were talking quietly in the kitchen and the sounds of cleaning up simmered down. Over on the sofa, Andromeda cradled Teddy while she fed him from the bottle, and he saw her face was aglow watching him suckle. He thought of the Weasleys in the kitchen again, and he felt quite drained of energy. He wasn't sure he had the strength to console anyone else today. He looked at Ron and Hermione and said, "I think I'm going to kip."

"Alright, Harry." Hermione raised her head from Ron's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "Shall we go in and talk with your family for a bit?"

"If you'd like to come with me," Ron chuckled wistfully, "I'd be grateful."

"That's settled then."

They got to their feet as well.

"Good night, Harry," said Hermione.

"Yeah, have a good sleep, mate," said Ron, giving Harry a clap on the shoulder on his and Hermione's way out of the room.

"You're coming for Nymphadora and Remus' funeral tomorrow, right?" Andromeda asked from where she sat feeding Teddy on the sofa. "Harry will be speaking at that one as well," she added, having been informed by Harry sometime earlier that he had already spoken at Colin Creevey's funeral.

"Of course we'll be there, Missus Tonks," said Hermione kindly.

Ron nodded in agreement.

"Please, call me Andromeda," said Andromeda. "I've got Harry doing it." She gave Harry a wink, and again Harry was reminded painfully of her daughter.

* * *

Harry stared at the small, simple, and lovely little cottage that once belonged to Remus Lupin, and before that, his father John Lupin. For a very short while, Remus and Nymphadora had resided here, and for an even shorter while, they'd resided here with their little son Teddy. He sighed with the gentle mid spring breeze. Closed his eyes to allow the peaceful birdsong to encompass and sink into him. Opened them and watched as a small group of three or four bees danced in the sunlight while gathering pollen from the beautifully kept garden filled with gladioli, snowdrops, daisies, daffodils, tulips, and buttercups, and even a rosebush on a wire frame.

Andromeda came to stand beside him, dandling Teddy as she held him against her shoulder, gently patting his back to get him to burp. "Remus told me that this was the garden his mother kept," she said. "She was a Muggle you know. Her name was Joanne. After she and Remus' father died, Remus continued to keep it up. He told me it partly helped him through his grief."

Harry looked at her.

Andromeda smiled sadly. "They're buried right beside the garden there." She pointed, and Harry followed the direction of her gesture to a large granite headstone a bit like his the one for his own parents' grave.

He went over to it to read the words inscribed upon the stone.

_John Matthias Lupin, b. 14 Oct. 1935 - d. 10 Mar. 1977_

_Joanne Theresa Lupin, nee Hagedorn, b. 4 Apr. 1936 - d. 10 Mar. 1977_

_To know even one life breathed easier because he and she lived is to_

_know he and she truly succeeded while here_

"They died on the same day?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Andromeda answered. "Killed by a band of Death Eaters led by Antonin Dolohov among them."

"Antonin…?"

"That's right. The wizard that murdered Remus also led the murderous attack on Remus' mother and father. And what was worse: they were killed on poor Remus' birthday—his _seventeenth _birthday."

"What did Antonin Dolohov have against Remus' parents?" Harry felt the old rage rumbling deep inside him, and the beginning trickles of a fresh thirst for retribution in the name of Remus' death. "Was it because his mother was a Muggle? I remember…hearing…." He thought back to what he'd heard in the 

old court cases he'd once witnessed in Dumbledore's Pensieve. "Dolohov enjoyed torturing Muggles, didn't he?"

"He was a known for it as he is for that slashing curse of his," Andromeda said bitterly. "The one with the streak of purple light?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I know the one you mean."

"Well, Dolohov took after his father Michel Dolohov in terms of a love for torturing Muggles. When John and Joanne were dating, Michel led Joanne into a trap, and though John was lucky enough to have been right on his trail, he wasn't quick enough from stopping Michel having a moment to torture Joanne before his very eyes. John was filled with such outrage and anguish that he let loose an Impediment Jinx that caused Michel such extensive spinal damage, he was crippled for life, and not only that, but died earlier than normal because of the effects of the crippling."

"I see. So his son Antonin had a motive of revenge as well."

"Precisely."

There was a pause, and the two of them stood there in the serenity of the nearby forest, and the countryside field on which the Lupins' cottage sat.

Harry studied the epitaph again.

"_To know even one life breathed easier because he and she lived is to know he and she truly succeeded while here…."_

"Remus couldn't have had more loving parents," said Andromeda, perhaps commenting on the epitaph. "Most parents disown their children if they're turned into werewolves. But John and Joanne kept Remus and looked after him and loved him with all of their hearts. And even with Joanne being a Muggle…she and John just loved their son so much. Remus told me she'd had a lot trouble conceiving after they'd had him, and so they weren't able to have any more children. But I think that even if they_ could_ have had more, they still would have brought Remus up as well and loved him just the same."

"Remus told me that his father had offended the Fenrir Greyback, and that was why Greyback bit him as a boy and turned him into a werewolf," Harry said at length. "John Lupin must have felt he was responsible for what happened to his son."

Andromeda nodded solemnly.

"And we'll be burying Remus and Tonks beside them, right?" Harry verified, pointing to the plot of land beside John and Joanne's gravestone.

"Mm-hm."

"I'm sorry, but…if you don't mind my asking…I mean, I was just curious—"

"Go on," Andromeda chuckled.

Harry cleared his throat. "Erm…where is Mister Tonks—I mean Ted—I mean I know there wasn't a body but…."

"There's a memorial for him at home," Andromeda answered munificently. "But I'm thinking about moving it somehow here so it can be with Nymphadora. Nymphadora…would want that." Her smile widened. "She loved her daddy so much. When she heard—I don't think she could have gotten through it without Remus…and Teddy…. And you know, it was Remus who suggested they name him after Ted…it made Nymphadora so happy when he brought it up with her…."

A small burp erupted from Teddy.

Andromeda gave a gasp of delighted surprise. "Good _boy_!" she praised. "Soon you'll be belching as loudly as your granddad did!"

Harry checked the watch he'd received from Mrs. Weasley for his seventeenth birthday, which had originally belonged to her brother Fabian. "It's time, Andromeda," he said quietly, tucking the watch away.

"Alright," sighed Andromeda, though she put on a brave smile. She shifted Teddy so that she cradled him close.

Harry walked with her around the cottage to where the Weasleys and Hermione were gathered around the open caskets of Remus and Nymphadora "Tonks" Lupin.

Harry watched as Andromeda brought a gradually-falling-asleep Teddy over to see his parents one last time. He half-smiled when Teddy lazily reached out with one hand and tugged at the lapel of his dead father's jacket. He stopped though when Teddy began to whimper, as though asking, _Why won't you wake up, Daddy? Why won't you come back to me?_ Andromeda shushed and dandled him as she brought him away from his father to see his mother, and this time Teddy's hand reached out longingly for the pink locks that had remained pink even after she was dead. His grandmother brought him away when he began to cry again as if he were pleading, _Mummy, Mummy, why did you leave me?_ But not long after he went quiet and limp, meaning he must have finally succumbed to sleep.

Then everyone sat down, except for Harry, who remained on his feet with his hands folded behind his back. He took a deep breath as he stood before them, and looked to the peaceful forms of Remus and Nymphadora reclined in their caskets, their hands folded quietly over their chests.

"It seems wrong for these two to be lying so still," he began, drawing on an improvisational approach he'd adopted for his microscopic amount of experience with public speaking. "Tonks, though she loathed her first name Nymphadora, it actually fit her quite well, I think. It's a name full of life and energy…_she _was full of life and energy, and that's why it's so wrong for her to be so still, so silent. And it's wrong for Remus to be this way too, because even though he was quiet…thoughtful…he by no means spoke up shyly or timidly when the need for his words were necessary. And…he was always at 

the ready—always ready without question to come to the aid of those who needed him, whom he _felt _in his _good heart _needed him. Always tensed and poised for when the time came to defend those he loved and cared about…. He taught me in my third year of Hogwarts how to fight off dementors. He was nothing but a good person, who wanted to help…and much of the world gave him no thanks for it, because of a condition he had into which he'd been forced, which _forced_ him to go through an agonizing transformation once a month at the full moon, where he had no control over his actions."

He glanced up then, and happened to notice that a woman with long white hair stood with a young man with hair of the same color, and another young man with hair of the same color and length, but they were obscured mostly by the shadows of the nearby forest. He had a feeling as to who they were however, though he did not draw attention to them. He continued as if he had not noticed them at all.

"Remus and Tonks died…like so many in our world who had children: they died trying to make the world a safer and happier place in which their children could live. They died for their son, Teddy, just as Remus' old friends, _my _father and _my _mother, died for me."

The stinging, closing sensation in his throat came without warning, and when it did, he found he could not say much more. He concluded with these last few words. He looked on Remus and Tonks again, his heart heavy in his chest. As he did, he faintly heard the sounds of sniffling, but no one was weeping, not even Mrs. Weasley. The tears were silent today, in reverence for their two fallen comrades.

"Good-bye, Tonks. I will miss your optimism, your bright laughter. You had the gift to lift spirits in sorrow. And now you're gone….

"Good-bye, Remus. You always meant well, and you were a good friend to me. Despite everything, I know you were a loving husband…and you and Tonks were both loving parents. No one will forget that, and let no one say different about it either." He swallowed. "That's…all I wanted to say." He took a deep, shuddering breath and sat down in the empty chair at the end of the front row.

There was a moment of silence, and then everyone rose and followed the man who had presided over Dumbledore's funeral and Fleur and Bill's wedding around the cottage for the burial.

After Remus and Nymphadora had been interred, hugs, tears, and words were exchanged amongst the little family Harry had come to know and love. When he found a moment, he located Andromeda and said to her, "I think your sister Narcissa is here with Lucius and Draco." He nodded in the direction of where the white-haired group of three still stood uncertainly in the forest, watching them.

"I see," said Andromeda, meeting their stares. She exhaled slowly. "Well, would you mind holding Teddy while I go _speak _with my sister then?"

Harry grinned. "Of course I wouldn't mind." When he had his sleeping godson in his arms, he watched as Andromeda went to meet her estranged elder sister.

Narcissa meanwhile emerged from the cover of the trees to meet Andromeda halfway. For a few moments, everything was still, and the two sisters—one fair, one dark-haired—stood there near the small rows of chairs, gazing into each other's faces.

And then…they fell into each other's arms, and clasped tight together like two children caught in a frightening storm with no one but the other for comfort.

Harry looked down at Teddy's sleeping face, and couldn't help but smile a little as he thought, _Well, Ted, what do you reckon? Think the Malfoys might send you something this Christmas then?_


	3. The Lupins' Cottage

**Chapter Two**

**The Lupins' Cottage**

Harry read the epitaph Andromeda had selected to be inscribed on Remus and Nymphadora's grave.

_For us there is no death. Rest here merely bones._

_Around you love's in flower, zero though our breath, etched into these stones._

_Read and feel it's power. _

He reflected on it a moment, and concluded that she could not have chosen better words for the headstone of her daughter and son-in-law.

"Harry?"

Harry turned at Andromeda's voice. He smiled at her and handed her Teddy, being very careful not to wake him. He peered over her shoulder as he did so and noticed that Narcissa, Lucius, and Draco had already taken their leave. Meanwhile, Andromeda had brought Teddy's pram along with her so she could settle him down while he napped.

"Thank you, Harry," she said to him gratefully as she laid her infant grandson quietly down in the pram. Then she added much more quietly, "Listen: tomorrow…I'm going with Narcissa…to bury Bellatrix."

"You're _what_?!"

The Weasleys and Hermione all looked around at Harry and Andromeda, and Teddy stirred with a tiny moan, but he did not awaken.

"Keep your voice down," Andromeda admonished Harry, "for goodness' sake. You could've woken Teddy, and the poor little thing's been _desperately _in need of a nap…."

"Sorry," said Harry. "Er…sorry," he added to everyone else with a reassuring grin. "It's alright. Everything's alright, really."

"Harry, I know you disapprove of my taking part in giving my sister Bellatrix a proper burial," Andromeda went on at length, dropping her voice an octave.

"'Disapprove' is an understatement, Andromeda," said Harry with a mild bite to his tone. "Perhaps you've forgotten that Bellatrix murdered half your family? First your cousin Sirius, and then Remus your son-in-law and Tonks your own _daughter_?"

Though she hadn't interrupted him, her eyes, at first wide with shock, now narrowed, and Harry suddenly thought he saw flashes of his dead godfather's fiery, headstrong temper in them.

"Not…another…step…Potter," Andromeda whispered dangerously, "or you'll have crossed the line with me. Right now your teetering over it, pushing right up against it…. Do _not_ presume to know what it means to have my own _sister_…murder my own _child _in cold blood…as well as her _husband_…_and my own husband _to boot, because as she was a Death Eater, she might as _well _have _murdered him too_…and don't even _think _of assuming you know what _Sirius _ever meant to me. Don't...you…_dare_…."

Fear, and more importantly, shame washed over Harry, drowned him in despair such that widened the already empty yawning chasm deep within the very pit of his stomach. He hung his head, could not bear to look at the grandmother of his godson…who had lost so much…certainly as much as _he _had, if not more….

His throat closed up even as sorrowful words seeking atonement attempted to escape through it. But he did not give up trying to get them out. He swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and said, very softly, "Forgive me. That was not—I wasn't—That was a terrible thing to say. I—I sometimes…forget to think…before I speak…."

He heard Andromeda heave a weary sigh. "Oh, Harry…." She paused. "You're lucky you made me think of Sirius just then."

Harry quickly raised his head, and saw that Andromeda was regarding him with a wistful smile.

"I'm sure you were aware that Sirius was a bit thoughtless himself?" Andromeda asked him, and Harry found comfort in that where the sadness in her disappeared with each word she spoke, her happiness grew in return.

He managed a shaky smile of his own. "Er…I did…yeah."

Andromeda chuckled. "Don't worry. It's a Gryffindor thing. Which I myself was almost sorted into. But in the end I got placed in Ravenclaw." She hesitated as though gathering her thoughts and then changed the subject. "So, this funeral, for Bellatrix…it's something that Narcissa and I need to do. Even though she and I became so estranged when she sided with Bellatrix—I mean she felt she _had_ to pick a side being the middle child—but she and I became so estranged…and then she became estranged from Bellatrix when she began to value the life of her nephew over the Death Eaters' cause, and…. She and I are just left to pick up the pieces of the mess our older sister made." She chewed on a fingernail and contemplated the rosebush in the Lupins' garden.

Harry cleared his throat and asked, "Will you be taking Teddy with you?"

"Hm?" Andromeda seemed to come out of a trance. "Oh…er—No! Oh goodness no. I've asked Molly to watch him, and she gladly accepted. I think it'll help her take her mind off…things. But…I'm telling you about Narcissa and me burying Bellatrix because…as Sirius' godson, I felt you should understand _why _I'm giving his own murderess a burial in the first place."

"Well…I think I _do_ understand now," said Harry.

Andromeda raised her eyebrows, ceased chewing on her fingernail.

Harry suddenly wondered if Nymphadora had ever had the habit of biting her own nails.

"_Do _you understand now, Harry?" Andromeda inquired seriously.

Harry bit his lip, this time doing the uncharacteristic thing of carefully putting his words together in his head before saying them aloud. "She was…_family_, after all, right?"

Andromeda smiled grimly.

Harry flicked his eyes onto Teddy's pram, where Teddy slept peacefully, so unaware of the loss and grief that surrounded him…of his own loss…of the terrible truth that his own great-aunt had murdered his mother…not to mention his third cousin, if you counted Sirius….

He suddenly had a beautiful vision in his head. He imagined telling little Teddy all sorts of stories about his cousin, Sirius Black…about his mother Nymphadora, better known by her maiden surname, Tonks…and about his werewolf father Remus Lupin who learned to appreciate the days in his life when he was not forced to suffer the effects of the monthly full moon…. He'd even tell his godson about his own parents, James and Lily Potter…. He'd tell him as much as he knew about any of them….

"Harry?"

Harry shook his head and blinked. "W-What?"

Andromeda seemed to suppress laughter. "What are you doing?"

Harry beamed. "Do you think…I could maybe…help Missus Weasley with looking after Ted tomorrow?" he asked somewhat hesitantly. For some reason he feared Andromeda would deny him such a request.

Andromeda grinned at him rather teasingly. "Hmmm…. Let me think about it while you and I go into the cottage here and collect all of Teddy's things that are still here, eh?"

Harry glanced over his shoulder at the homely yet lovely Lupin cottage. "What's going to happen to—?"

"The cottage? Oh, Teddy will have inherited that of course, so he'll be free to move into it once he comes of age and feels ready to be out on his own. But I'd like it we didn't _tell _him he's free to move in the moment he comes of age until he says he's _ready _to be on his own."

"Of course."

"It's all in Remus and Nymphadora's wills, naturally. They were smart you know. When you're fighting in a war, and you've got things to leave behind and people to leave them behind _to_, you've _got _to be prepared. Ted was…careful to draw up a will too…before he left…." Andromeda's demeanor saddened terribly, and Harry felt his pity and compassion well up inside of him.

He opened his mouth to offer some form of comfort, but he was forestalled by an irate exclamation.

"'Arry Potter!"

Harry looked to see that Fleur Weasley stamped across the lawn towards him—though even in stamping, she did it with an admirable grace, thanks to the veela blood that ran in her veins. Her face was oddly ruffled though with fury, and Harry had actually not seen her this angry since the night his name had come mysteriously out of the Goblet of Fire, and she had referred to him as a "little boy". When she reached him however, she stopped and took a deep breath, trying to keep her temper under control. And then she said in a voice that was forcefully steady: "I am sorry, 'Arry, but I felt that I just 'ad to say _something_! I know that Ron and 'Ermione spoke with you about this, but it seems that it 'as not gotten into your 'ead yet!"

Harry might have then praised the fact that, aside from the lack of the 'h' sound, Fleur's English pronunciation had massively improved since last he spoke with her. However, seeing as how she was very close to smacking him in the face with the heel of her hand, he didn't think this was the best time to bring up something like that.

Fleur went on: "I do not know if you 'ave noticed, 'Arry, but I 'ave been speaking with Ginny a lot lately. I never thought she would be one to come to me for sisterly advice, as she 'ad such an aversion to me since the day Bill and I announced to the Weasleys that 'e and I were going to be married. But it seems since I made peace with Molly, she 'as warmed up to me. And do you know what sort of sisterly advice she was 'oping to get from me? Mmm?"

Harry felt something gnaw unpleasantly on the insides of his belly. He swallowed, and the guilt he conveyed through his eyes seemed to be answer enough, because she then said, "I _thought _so," after a moment of silently contemplating his face.

"Harry," said Andromeda softly.

"Yes?" Harry replied faintly, looking up at her.

"Do you love her?"

There came that stupid burning sensation deep in the well of his throat again. And behind his eyes, and in his heart too. With a heavy sigh he nodded.

"I see." Andromeda turned to Fleur. "I know just the thing: a little packing up of his godson's belongings here will do the trick."

"But Andromeda, what 'e _needs _to do is talk to Ginny!" Fleur argued without hesitation. "If 'e loves 'er deeply and truly enough, _that _is what needs to be done!"

"I've got this under control, Fleur." She gave Fleur another one of her winks, and this time, it did not aggrieve Harry to be reminded of Nymphadora in the gesture; instead, it made him smile, and feel a light happiness bubble up inside of him.

Trying desperately to fill every dark corner of his being with this wonderful emotion, he followed Andromeda into the Lupin cottage, leaving Fleur outside to ponder Andromeda's words as she helpfully looked after Teddy's well-being for them while they were gone.

At first, Harry was consumed with a desire to explore the inside of the little home. And he was grateful that Andromeda allowed him that moment. Yet an internal struggle began to brew as he tried not to think with despair about the fact that everything had been left exactly the way Nymphadora had left it when she fled to her mother's with Teddy, as Remus had no doubt told her to do in an effort to keep her and their little son safe….

On the sitting room carpet, there was a blanket out, where Teddy must have been laid out on his back. Near the blanket, there were two stuffed animals lying as if tossed aside absently by the infant whose attention span was so incredibly short at such a young age.

Harry heard someone moan deep in the throat, and realized that it was him.

The two plush toys were a stuffed black dog, and a stuffed grey wolf.

Harry lowered himself to his knees beside them and picked up the black dog in his hands. He gazed into its empty glassy grey eyes that still held some sort of warmth.

_Sirius…. _

Unconsciously he stroked the fur, and when he became aware that he was doing it, he set the dog aside and picked up the wolf. Though just as empty as the dog's, the wolf's eyes were blue and clear and full of honesty.

_Remus…._

Behind him he heard Andromeda gasp and whipped around. Though she was smiling, her violet eyes were overbright. "That was Nymphadora's old stuffed dog that Sirius got for her one Christmas," she said quietly. "And then the wolf was something that Remus had made himself, and originally belonged to his baby brother."

All of Harry's other thoughts came to a screeching halt. "Remus had a _brother_? _When_? _Who_?"

"Oh, I don't know too much about it," said Andromeda, seeming to try and speak casually on the subject. "He disappeared a couple of years ago, and he was at least seventeen years Remus' junior. But Remus didn't really want to talk too much about it. Seeing that wolf though, and having him tell me that he'd made it with his own two hands, I could tell that Remus must have loved his brother very much." She paused. "The dog's name is Sandy…and the wolf's is Rory. From what I've seen…they seem to be Teddy's favorite toys."

Harry put on a smile for her. "Then we'll have to bring them with us, won't we?"

While Andromeda packed up Nymphadora and Remus' things to put into storage down in the cellar, Harry worked on getting Teddy's things together. After he packed up the rest of his godson's little toys, he wandered up the stairs to find the nursery and get the rest of his clothes as Andromeda had instructed.

As he made his way down the hall, he poked his head in each room in search of the one he was looking for. The first room he discovered was a bedroom with a queen-sized bed, the sheets left unmade and mussed up. He recognized the torn-up, punk-rocker style clothes once worn by Nymphadora...including her old Weird Sisters t-shirt…and neatly hung in the closet, the few sets of tattered, patched, and frayed robes once worn by Remus. Beneath the window was Teddy's little bassinet, where he slept in, for he was far too young to sleep in another room alone, away from his parents, for an extended period of time.

On the nightstand, Harry noticed a picture in a frame. Unable to help his persistent habit of giving into his natural sense of curiosity, he slipped into the room, crossed to the nightstand and picked up the picture in his hands.

It was Remus and Nymphadora on their wedding day.

They were dressed very simply—Remus in a very old groom's suit with a waistcoat, and Nymphadora in a strapless white dress, her spiky hot pink tresses decorated with white hair pearls—and Remus was holding her in his arms now, nuzzling her but being careful not to make any of the hair pearls fall, and both of them were beaming, either out of the frame, or as they gazed for a moment deep into each other's eyes, lost in love….

_Lost…._

Harry sighed and replaced the picture. Looking about the room, he saw that Nymphadora's vanity was also cluttered with her bottles of perfume and pieces of jewelry—dangly and stud earrings, necklaces, bracelets and bangles—scattered and strewn about.

On a second nightstand on the other side of the bed, Harry noticed another copy of the picture he'd seen at Andromeda's house of Remus, Nymphadora, and Teddy. Beside the picture, the sunlight streaming in from the window struck something shiny, catching his eye. He strode around the bed and picked up the object, which appeared to be something round made out of gold. He turned the cool metal trinket over and realized that he was holding a golden compass in his hand. It looked old, yet at the same time shined like brand new.

He examined the compass more closely, and found something engraved on the back. It appeared to be a family crest of some sort, and it looked familiar, but he couldn't think where he'd seen it before.

Gently he replaced the compass, only to notice something else shiny sitting beside it. He picked that up, and held a jewel the size of the ball part of a Snitch. He held to the sunlight, and it threw beautiful rainbow patterns on the walls. He held it out in the palm of his hand, and then watched with surprise as 

it rose up slowly into the air, and then spun around to throw its beautiful rainbow patterns everywhere in the room.

And happiness swelled inside Harry like a balloon.

Then he heard the floorboards creak and thought Andromeda was there, and immediately snatched the jewel from the air—and the rainbow spectacle ceased at once.

With a flood of relief, he saw that it was just the sounds of the cottage house settling, and it hadn't been Andromeda standing there finding him going through Remus and Nymphadora's things. At this, his relief turned to guilt. He set the jewel aside, quickly left the room, and continued down the hall in search of the nursery.

The next room he peered into wasn't it either but again he gave into a fresh wave of curiosity. It appeared to be some sort of small library, for the bookcase covered the entire opposite wall. But then he saw the writing desk and the squashy armchair nearby, and decided that it must be the study, or the den perhaps.

On the bookcase Harry could easily distinguish from the doorway the different defense books that must have belonged to Remus. Maybe some had been Nymphadora's as well.

He also saw two whole shelves' worth of little black books, all them labeled on the spines with what seemed to be years, and catalogued in chronological order, from 1971 to 1997….

The window in this room was open a crack, and a breeze that blew through it caused the rustle of paper. Harry turned his attention to where he heard the sound, and saw that it was another one of those little black books, leather-bound perhaps, lying open out on the writing desk, with a pheasant feather quill stuck inside the book like a bookmark. Nearby was an open bottle of ink, which appeared to have partially dried or congealed, having been left exposed for a few days to the elements. The pages were blowing over the pheasant feather quill, but Harry saw the tip of it sticking out of the bottom of the book.

He went over, reached out, and touched it. The ink was completely dry and crusted.

And just because his eyes so happened to be within such close proximity while he examined the quill tip, he just happened to catch sight of some of the writing at the bottom of the page to which the book was opened, the penmanship itself being very neat and clearly written.

_but I had to watch her sleep again tonight. I've been doing that every night now, yet I simply cannot help myself. I love her so much. How could I have had the strength to leave her? How did I have to strength to keep away from her before then, when I decided we couldn't possibly get married? Thinking of her was the only thing that kept me sane half the time I was undercover spying on Greyback and the other __werewolves! I know for certain in my heart that I could never leave her again. Now I do all that I can to protect her and our unborn child. I would defend her and our future son or daughter with my life. God, to think that I nearly lost them both to that twisted, murdering _

Harry tore his eyes away, more ashamed that he hadn't had the brains to do so sooner, much less to simply not read the writing at all. It was obvious that this little black book—as well as the ones on the bookcase—were all Remus' personal journals.

He backed out of the room, feeling indecently intrusive. He was glad that the very next room was the nursery: the room he was supposed to be concentrating on. Briefly he cast his eyes about the place, wondering if his parents had kept a room like this one for _him _when _he'd _been a baby. It was very quiet and tranquil. The window was open a crack in here too, and beneath the sill was the changing table with a special disposal bin for used up nappies, and then in a corner was a rocking chair cushioned with pillows, and beside that a box filled with little wizarding baby books, as well as a few more toys. There was also a little baby carrier, probably for when Teddy's naptime came around and Nymphadora and Remus both had to be downstairs: with the carrier, they could settle him down in that and bring him wherever they could keep him close by. The air meanwhile had had an Air-Freshening charm, and the scent Remus and Nymphadora appeared to have chosen was gardenia.

Then there was the very small dresser beside the changing table, where Harry presumed the rest of Teddy's clothes were kept. Sure enough, when he opened the top drawer, he found tiny pairs of socks rolled up and sorted by color. So at first there was no doubt in Harry's mind that Remus was the last one to put all of Teddy's clothes away fresh from the laundry. But then Harry opened the next drawer down, and found a mesh of fleece buntings in pale pastels, which someone had attempted to fold and then gave up, and were not sorted in any way, shape, or form. Nymphadora would have had to have to put _these _away.

Then Harry smiled at the idea that maybe they had put their son's clothes away in the drawers _together_, perhaps while conversing with each other as they did so. Just like any normal couple of two people who simply enjoyed being in one another's physical company. And as he began pulling out Teddy's clothes from all of the drawers, he began to reflect on times that Remus and Nymphadora had been "in one another's physical company" when they'd been alive…before they'd even been married…before Harry had even known that anything more than amity and comradeship had been going on between them….

The first instance that came to mind was on the morning of his Ministry hearing the summer before his fifth year of school. When he'd descended into the kitchen at Grimmauld Place, Remus and Nymphadora had been with other people, but the two of them had been talking with each other—or maybe it just seemed that way—about Rufus Scrimgeour. Then he remembered earlier when they'd brought him to Grimmauld Place for the first time, it was just Remus and Nymphadora who had brought in Harry's luggage…and then when they and other Order members and the Weasleys had met him and his friends at the King's Cross Station later at the end of that year, Remus and Nymphadora had been standing beside each other…and then there was that moment when after he'd discovered them and other Order members standing right inside his aunt and uncle's house at Number Four, Privet Drive, and 

Remus was introducing him to everyone, that he'd sort of teased Nymphadora by addressing her by that name rather than her maiden surname, Tonks…and she'd gotten quite annoyed with him about that too, but he'd simply smiled and corrected himself accordingly….

Suddenly, Harry wondered with despair: how in Merlin's name—in _God's _name—was the world going to go on _without _them?

After Harry had finished packing up Teddy's things, he went in search of Andromeda, and upon leaving the nursery found that every single room he'd visited and _not _visited were all completely empty, their contents packed away until maybe Teddy came back as an adult to claim this cottage for his own and reopen everything.

He descended all the way into the basement, which was filled with so many boxes that Harry could just barely make out that a corner of it had a likeness to some sort of private workshop. Then Harry heard Andromeda's voice from behind the boxes mutter something, and all of the trinkets and metal-working tools he'd seen laid out disappeared to be replaced with more boxes.

Andromeda herself appeared. "Ah, there you are Harry. All finished then?"

"Yeah," said Harry. "What was all that stuff you just packed up?"

"Oh, that I believe was Remus' father's little workshop," Andromeda explained, stepping out completely from behind the pile of other boxes and approached Harry. "John Lupin was in the trade of watch-making. In fact he'd made Remus' coming-of-age watch. I suppose making things for the people you love runs in the Lupin line," she added with a fond chuckle.

Harry was touched by this, knowing how sad it was that Remus' father had made his coming-of-age present with his own two hands, only to be murdered on the very day that he actually came of age.

As he and Andromeda rose from the depths of the cellar, they heard the faint cries of little Teddy.

"Oh, dear, he's probably woken up hungry," said Andromeda, waving a wand at the piled up boxes of Teddy's things as they passed to transport them straight to her home in South London.

Harry couldn't help but notice how tired she sounded.

When they came to the door however, they heard the infant's cries subside, and a woman's beautiful singing voice rising above them. They opened the door and stepped out into the sunlight to find Fleur where they'd left her with Teddy, whom she now dandled in her arms, rocking him gently as she crooned to him what sounded like a lullaby in her own native French, while her husband Bill Weasley stood behind her, mirroring her in looking down at the crying babe.

_"Pas de tendresse  
Et pas de joie  
Loin d'ici  
Loin de toi  
__Rien de plus triste  
Que mes soupirs  
Lorsque vient le jour  
Où il me faut partir_

_Chanson d'enfance  
Tu vis toujours dans mon cœur  
Toi le plus douce  
Toi le plus tendre"_

Her voice was so hypnotically beautiful that Harry and Andromeda stood transfixed for a moment and watched and listened to her until she'd finished.

When she did, she and Bill both looked up, smiling sweetly like they'd been doing for Teddy.

And Teddy, though he still whimpered some, seemed far calmer than he'd been before.

"Thank you, Fleur," said Andromeda sincerely, taking her grandson in her arms. "You're a natural mother."

"Isn't she brilliant?" Bill regarded his wife with a mixture of love and admiration.

"I do not think I am a _natural _mother," Fleur admitted modestly as Andromeda laid the hungering baby Teddy down in his pram. "If I ever become one, I really do not think I will be able to do it. The only child I 'ave 'ad experience with was Gabrielle as a baby, and even then, I was too young to be taking any sort of real care of 'er."

"Don't be silly," said Andromeda seriously. "My daughter hadn't even had _that _kind of experience, and for what small amount of time she was here for it, despite her doubts and apprehensions, she was a _wonderful _mother."

These words seemed to reassure Fleur, and she offered her condolences to Andromeda one last time, admitting that she was sometimes a bit hard on Nymphadora behind her back because of her clumsiness, and though she'd learned to become less shallow about it and had stopped doing it months ago, she still felt bad about it, especially now that Nymphadora was dead. She started to cry, and though she tried furiously to hide her tears, Andromeda wrapped her in a hug and both women now reminded Harry of when Fleur and Molly Weasley had cried over Bill's bed in the Hogwarts' hospital wing.

Harry caught Bill's eye, and Bill shrugged and smiled as if to say: "Just go with it, Harry."

Then Fleur and Bill bid them goodbye in fond spirits, as did Harry and Andromeda in return.

Then Andromeda faced Harry and asked, "Now, would it be too hard for you to return with me to help me unpack Teddy's things?"

Harry grinned. "Not at all, Andi," he said.

Andromeda laughed. "Oh, Harry, don't call me _that_. My _sisters _always called me that."

"Did _Narcissa _call you that?"

"Of course, Bella and Cissy both—" She stopped short and covered her mouth. She seemed to have just referred to her sisters by _their _childhood names. As Harry recalled from his brief respite in Malfoy Manor, Bellatrix and Narcissa had continued to use them with each other. After a moment Andromeda lowered her hand and said, "Well…I let Cissy call me that earlier when I spoke with her today. I suppose I can let you do it too. I mean…I suppose Dromeda was more of Ted's name for me and his alone, you know?"

Harry nodded. "I understand. Shall we then?"

"I suppose we shall." Andromeda waved her wand to lock up the Lupins' cottage once more, sealing it up a bit like a time capsule, and then she and Harry returned to her South London home.


End file.
